Known dampers include those dampers, such as magnetorheological (MR) dampers, electrorheological (ER) dampers, and valve dampers, whose damping characteristics change with a change in a damper command signal applied to the damper by a controller. In one example, a change in the electric current applied to the coil of an MR damper changes the damping characteristics of the MR fluid contained in the MR damper. Conventional applications of dampers include a damper associated with a wheel of a vehicle. Known algorithms for calculating a damper command signal include those algorithms which take into account body control, wheel control, stability control, and energy management. Known body control includes body control based at least on a skyhook method which includes a first input which is a body absolute velocity and includes a second input which is a body-to-wheel relative velocity. The two velocities are referred to as vertical velocities in the skyhook method. Known body control includes limiting the time rate of change of the damper command signal at a transition time between when the two velocities have a same sign and when the two velocities have opposite signs to reduce or avoid noise occurring in the vehicle if the damper command signal were not limited at the transition time.
What is needed is an improved method for establishing a limit on the time rate of change of the damper command signal of a vehicle damper.